This invention relates to protective armguards, and more specifically relates to a protective forearm/elbow guard for archers in order to protect the archer against injury.
Archers customarily wear a forearm guard, particularly beginning archers who are prone to improperly draw back or release the bowstring. Even the slightest misalignment of the bowstring when released may cause it to slap against the elbow or forearm with a great deal of force so as to inflict considerable pain if not injury. Heretofore, forearm protectors have been designed for attachment along the forearm portion below the elbow. Typically, such protectors have a fairly solid but somewhat flexible covering or pad which is releasably fastened at spaced intervals along the forearm by flexible straps so that the covering comformably extends along the inner fleshy portion of the forearm upwardly from the palm of the hand. While such guards afford some protection against injury, they do not protect the elbow portion which in many cases is subject to the same type of injury when the bowstring is improperly released, and this is especially true with respect to the side of the ulna at its connection to the humerus. Constant bending or movement of the arm has in the past discouraged any type of elbow protector or guard and it is therefore important that any such type of guard not impose a restriction on free movement of the arm, for example, in reloading the bow or in flexing or bending of the arm for other purposes.